The fire that broke out on Thursday evening around 8:00 p.m. in the storage halls of the Valtris sorting center in Couillet (Charleroi) is under control, the spokesperson for the Tibi intermunicipal authority said on Friday morning. According to her, the firefighters still on site are now busy evacuating the waste stored in the cubicles.
The origin of the fire remains unknown at this time. However, one possible lead is that the PMD waste contained batteries, which are known to increase the risk of fire.
The Valtris sorting centre is one of three structures of this type in Wallonia. It sorts the PMD of the inhabitants of the provinces of Walloon Brabant, Namur, Luxembourg and the entire Tibi zone. That is, more than 1.7 million inhabitants.
Valtris teams will assess the damage to the site in the coming hours. At this stage, however, it appears that the tools used to sort waste into a series of different fractions have not been affected, according to the spokesperson.
The new sorting center facilities were inaugurated in the summer of 2021.
Also read: Major fire in Couillet, smoke visible for miles: what we know (videos)
